On March 12, 1973, two men , both pilots for the Glen Falls, N.Y. division of the International Paper Company, flew a Beechcraft King Aire aircraft from upstate New York to Portland, Maine, and arrived safely at Portland Airport. The purpose of the flight was for one of the pilots to take an FAA examination the following morning to obtain an additional rating on is commercial pilot’s license.

The following day the men met an FAA Inspector at Portland Airport who was to administer the exam. After taking part of the exam on the ground, the three men climbed aboard the King Aire for the practical portion of the test, with the pilot taking the exam at the controls.

Part of the exam included touch-and-go landings, and as the aircraft was approaching Runway 36, it suddenly crashed and burned. It was later determined by FAA investigators that the pilot was executing an “emergency maneuver” at the time of the accident.

The pilot taking the test, and the FAA Inspector were killed in the crash. The third man received non-life-threatening injuries.

On April 28, 1944, Ensign Kenneth C. McKay, age 22, was killed while piloting an F6F-3 Hellcat, (Bu. No. 42238), on a gunnery training flight over Rockland, Maine. The crash occurred about 300 yards north of the Naval Auxiliary Air Field.

On the morning of May 16, 1949, a flight of four U.S. Air Force F-84 jets was scheduled to take off from Dow Air Force Base in Bangor, for a routine training mission. Shortly before take off, the pilot of one aircraft advised the flight leader that the tail pipe temperature gauge on his F-84 wasn’t working. He was advised to change aircraft, and while he was doing so, the other three F-84’s took off.

After being assigned another F-84, (#45-59538A), the pilot took off and was going to rejoin the other three F-84’s, but was advised against doing so, and ordered to fly solo around the Bangor area. After flying for about an hour, the pilot noticed another flight of three F-84’s from his squadron and according to the air force investigation report, “in accordance with an unwritten squadron SOP. joined the formation.”

The pilot moved into the number four position of the three ship formation, however he never radioed the flight leader, and the flight leader didn’t ask for identification. What followed next was a case of follow the leader, and after the flight went through a series of aerobatic maneuvers, it was noticed that the fourth plane was no longer with them. The missing aircraft wasn’t immediately reported as the flight leader assumed the fourth plane had run out of fuel and returned to base. In reality, the missing F-84 had crashed and exploded in the town of Charleston. The other three F-84’s returned to base without incident.

Exactly what occurred to the fourth plane is unclear. The last thing the pilot remembered was beginning a series of rolls, and then waking up on the ground with a civilian doctor administering to his injuries which had evidently been obtained when he bailed out of the aircraft.

Investigators discovered that the entire left wing, the right wing outboard panel, empennage, and canopy, were not at the crash site. These were later found in a heavily wooded swampy area, indicating they may have broken free while the aircraft was in flight or while it was falling.

On September 22, 1942, a U. S. Army B-25C bomber, (41-13098), left Presque Isle Maine Army Air Base en-route to overseas duty in England when it crashed in the nearby town of Fort Fairfield, Maine, off Fort Fairfield, Road. All seven crewmen aboard were killed.

The plane was said to be flying in poor visibility conditions.

Civilian witnesses stated they saw the aircraft burst into flames while still in the air.

The dead were identified as:

(Pilot) 1st Lt. Ralph L. Drogula, 26. He’s buried in Arlington national Cemetery. Newspaper accounts list Lt. Drogula as a Second Lieutenant, but an internet photo of his grave indicates he was a First Lieutenant. (See www.findagrave.com memorial #49175499)

There was another B-25C that left Presque Isle earlier in the day which crashed in the town of Perham, Maine, just a few miles north-west of Fort Fairfield. (The tail number of that plane was 41-13049.) In that crash, the tail section was reportedly found 1/4 mile from the wreck site possibly indicating a structural failure. (See “Perham. ME – September 22, 1942” under Maine Aviation Accidents on this website for more information.)

Both aircraft were part of the 379th Bomb Squadron, 310th Bomb Group, then based in Greenville, South Carolina.

According to the Army Air Corps investigation report on this accident, the aircraft involved crashed about ten miles south of Springfield, Maine. Other sources put the location closer to Lee, Maine.

Douglas B-18
National Archives Photo

At 4:45 p.m., on November 15, 1941, two Douglas B-18A bomber aircraft, left Westover Field in Chicopee, Massachusetts, bound for Bangor Air Base in Maine. The two planes were not cleared as one flight, but as two individual flights.

The first B-18, (Ser. No. 37-521) was piloted by 2nd Lt. Peyton W. Beckham, and the other by a pilot identified only as Lt. Offers. The two men had agreed to stay in sight of each other during the trip, and had further agreed that in the event they had to fly above any overcast in the vicinity of Bangor that that Lt. Beckham would wait until Lt. Offers landed first. This was due to the weather forecast for Bangor stating there was cloud cover over the area.

At a point about half way between Concord and Augusta, both aircraft climbed to 5,500 feet to get above the 3,500 foot overcast. When they reached Bangor shortly after 6:00 p.m., Lt. Offers made his descent first as per their agreement. The overcast ceiling at Bangor at this time was 1,400 feet, and dropping, and darkness was coming on.

At 6:32 p.m., after some garbled radio dialogue with the Bangor control tower due to interference with the radio signals from a Canadian source, Lt. Beckham advised he would try to make it to Portland, Maine, as his aircraft wasn’t equipped for instrument flying.

By 6:46 the overcast had dropped to 400 feet.

At about 7:20 p.m. Lt. Beckham’s aircraft was seen approaching Springfield, Maine. Ten minutes later it passed over the Carry Farm about ten miles south of Springfield, where three hunters later said it passed over their camp at a very low altitude heading southwest, and shortly afterwards they heard it crash.

According to the hunters, the weather in the area was very bad, with poor visibility due to fog and rain.

The plane had crashed in a remote and thickly wooded area surrounded by bog and swampland. Investigators concluded that the left wing caught in the tree tops near the bottom of a hill, dragging the aircraft down and causing it to swing to the left for 10 to 15 yards before it began to cartwheel up the hill for 200 yards. It was at this point the plane broke apart and caught fire. Debris was scattered in all directions for 200 to 300 yards.

All four crewmen aboard the plane were killed. They were identified as:

(Pilot) 2nd Lt. Peyton W. Beckham

(Co-Pilot) 2nd Lt. Wyman O. Thompson, 21. He’s buried in Underwood Cemetery in Underwood, North Dakota. To see photo of Lt. Thompson, and one of his gravesite, go to www.findagrave.com, and see Memorial #21814620.

Little information is available about this accident as press reports were vague.

On February 13, 1943, a two-man Navy plane crashed into Blue Hills Bay while on a training flight. The type of plane was not identified.

The pilot, Lieutenant John Shelley, of Wellesley, Massachusetts, was rescued by townsmen from Surrey, who braved the icy waters in a small boat to get to the downed airman.

An unidentified radioman was lost in the crash. Lt. Shelley stated that both he and the radioman had managed to climb onto a wing of the partially submerged aircraft and the radioman attempted to swim the mile or so to shore. The water was cold, with floating ice and strong currents.